Hosea 2:3 (LSB)

Passage

Lest I strip her naked And set her forth as on the day when she was born And make her like a wilderness And make her like dry land And put her to death with thirst.

Nearby Context

Hosea 2:1 Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”

Hosea 2:2 “Contend with your mother, contend, For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; And let her remove her harlotry from her face And her adultery from between her breasts,

Hosea 2:3 Lest I strip her naked And set her forth as on the day when she was born And make her like a wilderness And make her like dry land And put her to death with thirst.

Hosea 2:4 Also, I will have no compassion on her children Because they are children of harlotry.

Hosea 2:5 For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "lest", "strip", "naked", "forth", "born", "make", "like", and "wilderness". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "lest" and "strip", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Contend with your mother contend For she..." into verse 4's "Also I will have no compassion on...", so "lest" and "strip" belong inside that flow. In Hosea context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "lest" and "strip" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.